Barrel.



E. W. ROBINSON.

BARREL.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 9, 1910.

Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

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TNTTE@ TATES PATENT FFTQE.

ELDVVABJI) W. ROBINSON, OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, ASSIGNOBJ, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO INTERNATIONAL BARREL COMPANY, 0F SAVANNAH,

CORPORATION OF GEORGIA.

esonera, A

BARREL.

rosales.

Application filed November 9, 1910.

T0 all whom it may Concern.'

Be it linown that I, EDWARD W. ROBINSON, ak citizen of the United States, residing in Savannah, Georgia, have invented certain Improvements in Barrels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to barrels composed of st-aves interwoven with properly spaced pairs of wires which talre the place of the usual hoo-ps for retaining the staves in proper' relation to one another, and my invention relates particularly to a barrel of this type intended for the storage and transportation o'f powered or granular material and technically known as a slack barrel in contradistinction to what is technically known as a tight barrel, which is intended for the storage and transportation of liquids.

The object of my present invention is to so construct the barrel as to preventl leakage of powdered material therefrom. This object I attain in the manner hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of a barrel constructed in accordance with my present invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical section of one end of the barrel with the head inserted therein; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the head as it appears when detached from the barrel; Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view of part of the barrel, on the line Uri-a, Fig. l; Fig. 5 is a transverse section of part of the barrel on the line o o, Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the retainer for the twisted ends of the wires, and Fig. 7 is a similar view of a modified form of said retainer. Figs. 4, 6 and 7 are on a larger scale than Figs. l to 3, inclusive, and Fig. 5 is on a still larger scale.

The barrel is composed of staves l which Vare preferably narrower at the ends than at the center so that when the staves are drawn together until their edges meet the barrel will present the desired bilged form, the

edges of the sta-ves being beveled to insure the close fitting of the same.

The staves are confined in position by as many pairs of wires 2 as it may be desired to employ, each stave being inserted be tween the wires of each pair and the latter being twisted together between the staves which are mortised at each edge, as shown at 3 in Fig. 4, in order to receive these Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 17 191.4.

serial no. 591,505.

twisted portions of the wires, said mortises being so proportioned in respect to the size of the wires that the twisted portions of the latter between the staves will snugly ll the openings formed by the coinciding mo-rtises of the adjoining staves, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 and will, therefore, eifectually prevent leakage of the contents of the barrel at these points even although such contents are in finely powdered form, such as flour or cement. To further aid in the attainmentof this object the wires are twisted under considerable tension and bite into or indent the staves at the bases of the mortises, thus insuring the extension of the twisted portions of the wires into close cont-act with said bases, as also show-n in Figs. 4 and 5, and the successive twists are all in the same direction, consequently a. twist once completed is maintained tight, whereas if the successive twists were in reverse directions a following twist would tend to loosen the preceding one, and would therefore interfere with the holding of the staves in the desired close relation to one another.

The distance between the top and bottom of each mortise should be such that when the wires are twisted together in the rear of a previously inserted stave they will all bite into said top and bottom edges of their respective mortises, and when a succeeding stave is pushed up into contact with a previously inserted one the top and bottom faces of the mortises in said stave will be indented by the twisted wires in advance thereof, so that there will, as shown in Fig. 5, be a snug fit vof the top and bottom faces of each mortise to the curved surfaces of the twisted wires.

The head of the barrel is composed of two laterally separable members 4 and 5, whose central or meeting edges are rabbeted, as shown by dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 3, and whose peripheral portions are grooved, as shown at 6, in Fig. 3. The meeting portions of the members 4 and 5 of the barrel head are recessed, as shown at 7, for the reception of a cam 9 which is secured to or forms part of a hatten 10 on the outside of the head and a plate 1l on the inside of the head, whereby said cam structure is vertically confined to the members of the head but is free to turn thereon.

When the cam is turned to the position shown in Fig. 3 the members of the head can approach each other so that their adjoining edges will meet and the diameter of the head is thereby contracted to such an extent that it can be readily introduced into or removed from the barrel. lNhen, however, the cam 9 is turned to the position shown in F ig. 2 said members are forced apart and the grooved periphery of the head is caused to engage with the innei` of the pair of wires with which the end portions of the staves are interwoven, the head being thereby securely locked to the barrel so as to resist either pressure from the outside tending to force it into the barrel or pressure from the inside tending to force it out of the barrel.

By preference, the staves are concave on their inner faces as shown in Fig. et, and the central portion of each inner wire, bridging this concave, will, therefore, occupy a position some distance inward from the inner face of the stave and will provide a better hold for the grooved periphery of the barrel head than it would if it laid snugly against the inner side of the stave,

The peripheral portion of the barrel head is of such thickness as to be flush with the ends of the staves and thus provides backing or support for said staves, up to the ends of the latter, as shown in Fig. 2, but the outer face of the head is recessed, up to a point adjacent to the periphery, as also shown in Fig. 2, the purpose of this recess being to lighten the head and to prevent the cam-operating batten 10 from projecting beyond the head. v

By preference, the batten occupies a position at right angles to the joint between the members of the head when the latter are contracted, as shown in Fig. 3, and parallel with said joint when the members are eX- panded, as shown in Fig. 2, the batten then serving to close the gap between the outer portions of the rabbeted joint and thus preventing any leakage which might otherwise take place at said joint. This, however, is simply in the natur-e of an added precaution, since the rabbeted portions of t-he joint are intended to overlap sufficiently to prevent leakage under normal circumstances.

The batten 10, on the outside of the head, and the plate 11, on the inside of the head, eflectually prevent leakage through the recesses 7 in the opposite members of the head when said members are expanded. Vhen it is desired to seal the barrel, such sealing can be readily effected by securing the batten in the locking position shown in Fig. 2 by driving a nail or screw through the hatten and into one of the members of the head and then applying a seal of any desired character to the head of said nail or screw, or suitable staples, one on the batten and the other on one of the head members, may be connected by a wire whose ends are secured by the usual lead seal, or other'equivalent means of sealing the hatten in the locking position so that it cannot be moved from such locking position without breaking the seal, may be adopted.

Wvhen the proper number of staves to form the barrel have been interwoven with the pairs of wires, each pair of wires is twisted together at the edges of the end staves of the series, as shown at 19, in Fig. 4, and, in order to hold the interwoven staves and wires in position to form the barrel, it is necessary that these twisted ends of the wires should be securely retained. For this purpose l prefer to employ, in connection with each pair of wires, a device of the character shown in Figs. 1, l and 6, this device consisting of a plate 12 preferably of sheet metal which lies snugly against the outer faces of a pair of adjoining staves, this plate having a central opening 13 therein and having its end portions struck-up to form loops 11i for straddling the wires on the outer sides of the staves. rlfhe plate also has, above and below the central opening 13, other loops 15 struck-up therefrom, as shown in Fig. 6, these loops providing bearings for the pintles of a pair of swinging jaws 1f, which can thus be introduced into position from the back of the plate and are free to swing in the central opening of the latter. Each of the jaws 16 has its inner edge notched or recessed as at 17 so as to provide an opening for the reception of the twisted portions 19 of the wires 2.

As the plates 16 are swung outwardly from the plate 12 the size of the opening formed by the notches 17 gradually increases and as the plates swing inwardly the size of said opening gradually decreases, the opening being at its smallest when the jaws 16 are parallel with the plate 12, as shown in Figs. t and 6. lf, therefore, the twisted portions 19 of the wires are drawn through the notches of the jaws 16 when the latter are swung outward and the jaws are then pushed inwardly, they will lgrip the twisted portions of the wires after the manner of a toggle and the inward pull or strain upon the twisted wires will serve to maintain or increase the grip of the jaws thereupon.

In order to dispose of the free ends of the twisted wires 19, the latter may be passed under springtongues 2G struck-up from the loops 14 at the ends of the plate 12, as shown in Fig. 4i. The twisted ends of the wires may be readily sealed by sealing material applied to the same outside of the clamping jaw 16.

Instead of using av duplex retainer having a pair of clamping jaws 16, as shown in Fig. 6, l may, in some cases, use a single retainer having but one clamping jaw 16, as shown for instance in Fig. 7, both of the twisted wires 19 in this case being retained by the single spring tongue at one end of the retainer.

I ain aware that it has heretofore been proposed to construct a barrel having staves' with meeting edges, said staves being interwoven with pairs of wires twisted between the staves and occupying mortises formed in the meeting edges of the staves, but in such barrel the mortises and the twisted portions of the wires do not bear such relation to one another that the twisted portions of the wires completely fill the rnortiSes and prevent leakage of powdered material through the same.

I do not herein claim the construction of the expansion head, or the combination of the same with the barrel, nor do I claim the construction of the retainer for the twisted ends of the wires.

I claim:

l. A barrel consisting of closely tting staves having mortised edges, said staves being interwoven with pairs of wires which are twisted between the staves, the twisted portions of the wires being located in the mortised portions of the staves and cornpletely illing said mortises, thereby preventing leakage between the staves.

2. A barrel consisting of closely fitting staves having mortised edges, said staves being interwoven with pairs ott wires which are twisted between the staves, all of the twists being in the same direction, and the twisted portions of the wires being located in the mortised portions of the staves and completely lilling said mortises, thereby preventing leakage between the sta-ves.

3. A barrel comprising a series of closely fitted staves having mortised edges, said staves being interwoven with pairs of wires which are twisted between the staves, the twisted portions of the wires occupying and completely iilling the mortises in the staves and the wires being under such tension as to indent or bite into the bases of the mortises.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD W. ROBINSON.

IVitnesses:

HAMILTON D. TURNER, KATE A. BEADLE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

